HAND SEWING FACTS – HOW TO SEW FAST BY HAND

I know it sounds a bit strange when we mention hand sewing today.

In the world of machines where people’s work is eased as much as possible by machine use, hand sewing seems funny, even ridiculous.

I’m very much aware of this fact.

But I believe there are always times when you wish to go back to history and see how it was! Don’t you? I know I do!

Therefore I wish to give you a few interesting hand sewing facts. You’ll realize it’s not that hard and how much fun it can be!

Stay with me through this article and you’ll see all the great stuff about sewing! You’ll discover how to sew fast by hand. No machine is necessary! And you can make so many great things!

How to make a pillow cover without a sewing machine

Pillows are so much fun! You don’t have to use them just for sleeping or napping! Why not for playing – throwing pillows is a great relaxation game!

That’s why I’ve decided to show you how to make an interesting pillow cover. And the best thing is you don’t need a sewing machine!

Here are a few things you need if you want to hand sew a pillow cover:

• Cloth, fabric, any kind of material. The type is completely up to you. And not only you can choose the type but design as well. Perhaps you are a big fan of teddy bears or flowers that would go nice with your sheets! This is absolutely optional!
• A needle. Choose your needle according to the type of fabric. If you use harder material, use a bigger and stronger needle.
• You can combine your thread with the color and design of the material and you don’t have to. Sometimes it’s more interesting to use a different color of thread!
• Sewing scraps. You’ll need them to cut your fabric. If you maybe don’t have the real sewing scraps, use regular scissors only well sharpened. This is important so you could cut cloth straight.
• A ruler and a pen or pencil.

How to make a pillow cover?

When you get everything you need from this list, you can start sewing.

First, take the thread through the needle. You can tie both ends of a thread into a knot to avoid extraction.

Then measure your pillow. Use sewing scraps to cut the fabric approximately half or one inch longer than the pillow.

Join two sides of the fabric together and start pulling a needle and a thread through the material.

After you finish sewing on three sides, put your pillow inside and finish sewing. Wow, your pillow cover is over.

You see, it wasn’t hard but it was so fun!

This way you can change your pillow covers whenever you want!

Small advice – you can sew on a zip onto your cover if you prefer washing only it and not the entire pillow all the time.

And, if you don’t want the last – side stitch to be seen – use fabric glue to finish your pillow cover!

How to patch jeans without a sewing machine

I know what’s the first thing that crosses your mind when I say “ripped jeans” – they are popular!

Sure they are! I know!

But if you don’t want holes in your jeans, patch them by hand in a very simple way!

What are we going to need for this situation?

• A needle, strong one because jeans is hard material.
• Thread, possibly white, or in the color of your jeans. You won’t have trouble finding the right thread. It’s available in every sewing store in all possible colors.

The way you are going to patch your jeans kind of depends on the hole or place your jeans are ripped.

If you have a hole in your jeans put your hand from the inside part of jeans (under the whole).

Just like with the pillow cover, after you take the thread through the needle you can tie ends in a knot.

Start wriggling the thread through the hole just above your hand. Do this until you patch the entire hole.

Be careful to keep the jeans flat. This way you’ll avoid creasing and you’ll get a nice modern pair of jeans.

If, on the other hand, the hole isn’t big, or is somewhere where it’s not so obvious, turn your jeans upside – down.

Join the ends of the ripped place and wriggle the needle with thread from one side to another. It’s possible you’ll have a small wrinkle, but if the whole is small this won’t be easily visible.

There is a third way!

You can take a piece of some other jeans (a bit bigger than the patch) and sew it on the hole.

Whichever way you choose, you’ll get a nice repaired pair of jeans ready to be worn for a long time!

How to make a baby blanket without a sewing machine

Here is one more interesting task you can finish by hand – making a baby blanket. For moms, this can very amusing since they get to choose color and print they want.

This is cheap and easy and I promise you’ll enjoy, especially when you see the final product.

Here’s what we need:

• Flannel or cotton fabric. It doesn’t matter which one you’ll choose because they are both soft and pleasant.
• A piece of batting
• A needle and a thread
• Embroidery needle
• Safety pin
• Sewing scraps
• Embroidery floss
• A pencil (don’t use pen or bullet pen here)
• An iron

Let’s see how to complete this task.

First, choose the side that will be the back of the blanket. Then trim the material.

Place the downside on a flat surface – a floor or a table is suitable. When you come to this part, you can use a tape to secure the blanket from slipping. You don’t have to but I’ve noticed it’s easier this way.

Take the batting. Smooth it out. This is where you can use iron. It will be easier to smooth wrinkles out.

Place the blanket on the batting. The batting on one side of the blanket should be long enough to avoid slipping. The length is really optional and depends on how you want the blanket to look like.

After you’ve done this, you can use safety pins to ensure it won’t glide.

Now, the easy part! Take the needle and thread and tie the batting and the fabric. Safety pins can be helpful so don’t remove them until you’re completely finished!

Iron it one more time and your baby’s blanket is ready! Piece of cake!

How to make embroidered patches by hand

People like things to represent themselves. The same is with clothes.

One may think this is hard, but here’s the deal – it’s really easy!

You probably wonder how!

That’s why you have me here! Take a few minutes to read the next lines and you’ll find out how to make embroidered patches without using a sewing machine.

This is great if you want to add something personal to your clothes!

Things we need:

• Embroidered patches. You can find them in sewing shops, online, or you can use patches from some old clothes!
• A needle and thread
• Iron

The procedure:

Put the patch on the top side of your clothes. Iron it. The ironing part is really great because it’ll help you lose wrinkles and on the other hand it will serve as glue. It will stick patches to your clothes and make the sewing part easier.

Take a needle and thread and start sewing. Sesame all sides and you’re done!

If you are worried about damaging an embroidered patch, you can use one more piece of fabric and a paper that you’ll put on the other side of your clothes. Iron over the paper and then remove it.

It’s possible this will give you more safety when sewing.

How to hand sew a label on a shirt

Maybe you’ve decided to start selling the clothes you’ve made and you need to put the label on them! Or you bought a gift and the label fell off! The trouble you think!

There’s no such a word in my dictionary! I’ll help you solve this trouble right away!

You’ll need:

• A label
• A needle
• Thread

How to do it:

Take a needle with thread. Put the needle in the corner of your clothes, as high as possible and pull the needle through it once or twice.

Take the label. Put it on a T-shirt or whichever piece of clothes you want. The upper right corner of the label should be placed exactly where you pulled the needle through!

When you finish this, take your needle and continue sewing.

When you’re sewing the label on, don’t go in a circle.

Just sew the small sides, right and left, or the upper side of the label. Sure it’ not a crime if you sew on all sides, but it kind of looks better the other way!

That’s it! Your job here is done! You see – no trouble at all.

Sewing on a label is great stuff especially if you make your own clothes and want to show who made it.

How to hem jeans with original hem without a sewing machine

Ok, here’s our situation. You’ve bought a pair of jeans and it is too long. It looks funny to wear them longer then they should be. But, you don’t have a sewing machine! What should you do?

Sure you can go to seamstress but why wasting your money when you can do it yourself!

Take your jeans and measure it. Don’t cut the original hem.

Decide how much you want to shorten your jeans. If you need them to be let’s say 2 inches shorter, measure that and fold it.

Fold it one more time to get to 1 inch. Take safety pins and put them on the original hem.

Take a needle and a thread and sew criss-cross all the way around without touching the original hem.

After you’ve done straight out the edge with the original hem and it will look like you bought them this way.

It’s really easy thing to do just be careful to sew straight pressing the ends all the time to avoid wrinkles.

Iron in the end and your new pair of jeans is ready!

Or if you want to use your sewing machine, check out this amazing video:

Cool things to sew by hand

If you have some extra free time or you need some extra money sewing can be great.

Not only it will reduce stress but it can also be a great additional job.

There are many cool things you can sew by hand so let’s check at least some of them!

• A gadget case

We all love our phones and want to keep them safe. You can by a case but you can also make it on your own. You’ll need only a couple of things to do this and you probably have them in your home. A needle, thread and some material are all you need!

A case can be great not only for your phone but other gadgets as well such as a toothbrush and a paste, or for jewelry.

Make a nice case to place all the small things that wander around your house every day.

• Stuffed toys

This is like the coolest thing especially if you have kids!

You can save some money and at the same time have fun making up toys! You can include your kids, too, and you can all have some great time!

Again you’ll need a needle, thread, fabric, and some sponge.

• Pincushion

You have many pins and they move around all over the house! You stabbed on it so many times!

The pincushion is your solution. Some sponge, a needle, thread and make a funny solution for your problems!

• Gloves

You can make yourself some nice fingerless gloves.

Take fabric, scissors, needle, and a thread and do it!

Not only these things but laptop sleeve, a needlebook, ties, finger stalls, baby chewing stuff…

So many great things can be sewed by hand. This is a cheap and easy way to loose stress and a great way to save some money.

You probably thought there aren’t so many things you can do without a sewing machine but this small article must’ve changed your opinion.

All you need is some fabric, interesting patches, a needle, thread, and imagination. That’s it!